======== I R A N D E M O C R A C Y W A T C H A Periodical Newsletter by Democracy Network of Iran Democracy Network of Iran is an internet-based network of individuals with focus on social, economic and political development in Iran, advocating creation of truly democratic processes in political and social realms. For more information, you can look at our web site: http://www.algonet.se/~farhad/dni/index.htm or send an email to dni@glue.umd.edu ******************************************************************** Issue 4 Friday June 7, 1996 ******************************************************************** In this Issue: * Souroush in England * Iran to Launch Communications Satellite * Iran Allocates Funds to Counter US Covert Actions * Traces of Wine in 7,000 year-old Jar Found in Iran * GCC Expresses Concerns over Iranian Missile * DNI Voting Results on Amendments to Charter ********************************************************************* Date: 7 Jun 1996 11:55:15 Subject: Nateq Nuri's supporters in UK and Dr Soroush. Movahhedin (Manchester): Many of the IRI-sponsored students attended a lecture by Dr. Soroush in Manchester. The speaker was calm and the talk was academic. The audience was impressed by his ability to read many Persian poem from memory. He explained religious pluralism according to Islam. He confirmed content of Guardian article on Thursday about "accidential prophethood". Absent were Nateq Nuri's supporters, Embassy officials, Dr. Ezheyi's Islamic Association of Students. Some affiliates of the Hosseinye of Manchester and turbanned PhD students sponsored by the IRI expressed their dissatisfaction with other students attending Dr. Soroush's talk. The number of attendees was less than 200. Movahhedin (Leeds): Hosseinieh of Leeds sponsored by an Iraqi merchant with a close relationship with the IRI Embassy-London and the IRI refused request of Iranians PhD students request for allowing Dr Soroush to lecture at the Hosseinieh. Last week Hosseinie (or actually Yazidiyeh) of Leeds invited Ansaryan to talk for students. They provided a good dinner to attract students. Some students with close ties to the Embassy warned "Association of Iranian Students, Leeds University" that inviting Dr. Soroush may cost them in both this world and the hereafter. However, the lecture is expected to go on peacefully and Nateq Nuri's faction will be more isolated than before among Iranian students of Leeds. A.A. *********************************************************************** Date: Fri, 07 Jun 1996 15:13:24 EDT Subject: Iran will launch a satellite Iran to Launch a Telecommunication Satellite Telecommunications Company of Iran (TCI) is planning to launch a telecommunication satellite, called Venus (Zohreh) in near future. According to an official from the company, the satellite is ready and TCI only awaits permission by Iranian high authorities. France and Italy is said to have taken part in manufacturing of the satellite. However, Chinese experts are the ones undertaking the launching process. Venus will be used to provide telecommunications facilities to remote areas in Iran; to support terrestrial telephony; provide military communications and data networks; and to develop Iran's broadcasting capacity. Iran was initially given four orbital slots by the ITU, but since then two slots were lost to Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Some experts consider the latest announcement to be an attempt to prevent losing another. Reported by Middle East Communications, April 1996. *************************************************************************** Date: Fri, 07 Jun 1996 15:11:50 EDT Subject: Iran vs. US Iran spending $14 million to fight U.S. ``plots'' Source: Reuter Reuter reports that "Iran has earmarked more than $14 million to counter U.S. ``plots'' against it and raised its yearly defense budget by 30 percent, Tehran radio said Thursday." Vice-President Hamid Mirzadeh has said ``25 billion rials ($14.3 million) has been earmarked to counter America's plots...(and) the defensive budget has been increased by 30 percent to reinforce defensive potential'' in the Iranian year which started on March 20. Iran's defense budget was expected to be increased by 30.7 percent to $3.31 billion, Defense Minister Mohammad Forouzandeh has said. ************************************************************************** Date: Fri, 07 Jun 1996 15:10:44 EDT Subject: 7000 years of wine in Iran! :) Scientists discover evidence of oldest wine NEW YORK - Talk about a vintage! Scientists say they have found the oldest evidence of wine in residue at the bottom of a squat, 7,000-year-old pottery jar. Traces of two chemicals in the jar, found in the Zagros Mountains of Iran, extend the known history of wine-making by about 2,000 years, said researcher Patrick McGovern. The jar comes from a time when people were setting up permanent settlements for the first time, he said. While earlier nomadic peoples may sometimes have gathered wild grapes and let the juice ferment, settlers who put down roots would have been the first to have pottery, allowing them to store wine as well as ship it and use it in trade, McGovern said. And by staying in one place, the settlers would have had a chance to cultivate their own grapes, he said. "Once you get people settling down for the first time, there's a real opportunity for them to produce wine on a more massive scale, to actually invent or develop winemaking,'' McGovern said. Thursday's issue of the journal Nature reported on the findings of McGovern and his colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia, and Mary Voigt of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., who excavated the jar. The jar is dated to about 5400 B.C. to 5000 B.C. "This is about the period of time we would expect wine to turn up,'' said Marvin Powell of Northern Illinois University, an expert on ancient Near East agriculture. The jar, when reconstructed from fragments, was about nine inches high and 13 inches wide with a capacity of about 2.5 gallons. It was one of six lined up against a wall of what appeared to be the kitchen of a mud-brick home. Stoppers were found nearby. The evidence of wine is the combination of a salt formed from tartaric acid, which is naturally abundant only in grapes, and a tree resin widely used in ancient times as a wine additive. By The Associated Press ************************************************************* Date: Tue, 04 Jun 1996 12:48:47 EDT Subject: Gulf Arabs & Iran Weapons Source: Reuter DUBAI, June 3 ``The (GCC) is very concerned. If Iran acquires a (North Korean) No-Dong missile delivery system it will cover their entire states. If fired from the Iran-Iraq border, Iran can hit Israel,'' the expert added. The change of tone appeared closer to that of the Gulf Arabs' main ally the United States, which accuses Iran of seeking to acquire weapons of mass destruction and of sponsoring ``terrorism'' abroad. The GCC statement expressed concern over Iran's ``continued keen efforts to acquire and build an armament capability which far exceeds its conventional and legitimate defence needs.'' ``This poses a dangerous threat to the security and stability'' in the Gulf, said the statement which also called on world states and international bodies to work to make the region free of weapons of mass destruction. The GCC also demanded ``that Iran does not interfere in the internal affairs of Bahrain and (other) member states. (It must not) revert to acts of sabotage and encouraging them, and must respect the independence and sovereignty of GCC states.'' Oman's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Youssef bin Alawi bin Abdulla told reporters: ``Bahrain has indications that there are interferences by known and confirmed elements in Iran. We (GCC) consider any interference or danger facing a member state as a matter which touches us all.'' **************************************************************** _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ _/ _/ Democracy Network of Iran (DNI) _/ _/ P.O. Box 1611 _/ _/ College Park, MD 20742, USA _/ _/ _/ _/ http://www.algonet.se/~farhad/dni/index.htm dni@glue.umd.edu _/ _/ _/ _/ To subscribe, send a message to majordomo@glue.umd.edu, include in the _/ _/ body: subscribe spi _/ _/ _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/